requests additional gas vans for "...a transport of Jews, which has to be treated in a special way..." The gas vans were vehicles containing an airtight compartment in which the victims were locked and the exhaust gas was pumped into, killing the victims with the combined effects of carbon monoxide poisoning and suffocation. Equipment In German, , meaning "special", can be used to form compound nouns. As well as in reference to actions, the Nazis used euphemisms to refer to the actual equipment used to carry out killing. In his letter, Trühe refers to the vans as ("S-vans"); ("special vans") in full. Other documented references include ("special vehicle"), ("special van"), and ("auxiliary equipment"). Several instances of this unspecific language in reference to equipment can be found in documents concerning Auschwitz concentration camp. A letter dated August 21, 1942 referred to 'Bunker 1' and 'Bunker 2' (farmhouses west of Birkenau converted into gas chambers) as ("bathing installations for special actions"). In the letter, this is given in quotes, further suggesting the euphemistic nature of what is meant. On blueprints, the basement gas chambers of Crematoria II and III were simply marked as ("basement morgue 1"), and the basement undressing rooms were marked as . However, a letter dated November 27, 1942 to chief Auschwitz architect Karl Bischoff referred to morgue 1 of Crematorium II as the ("special cellar"). A letter from Rudolf Jährling concerning Crematoria II and III to oven builders J.A. Topf and Sons dated March 6, 1943, refers to morgue 2 as an ('undressing room'). The units of prisoners forced to empty gas chambers and load bodies into ovens were known as the ("special squads"). A document dated August 26, 1942 granted the camp authorities to send a truck "... to Dessau to pick up material for special treatment..." - Dessau was one of two places where Zyklon B was manufactured. Standard usage of the term for killing at Auschwitz applied. A letter dated October 13, 1942, signed by Bischoff, states that construction of new crematoria facilities "... was necessary to start immediately in July 1942 because of the situation caused by the special actions." On September 8, 1943, 5,006 Jews were transferred from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz under the designation "SB six months." Six months later on March 9, 1944, those still alive were gassed. In his diary, and doctor Johann Kremer describes seeing a mass gassing for the